Mayor Kasim Reed Meets With Black Lives Matter Activists At City Hall

Mayor Kasim Reed addressed reporters at City Hall following his meeting with Black Lives Matter activists on Monday, July 18.

Jayla Moody
/ GPB

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is reviewing a list of 25 demands from Black Lives Matter activists. The mayor and his cabinet met privately on Monday with four activists — a follow-up to protests last week after the killing of two black men by police officers in Baton Rouge and Minnesota.

The activists’ demands include annual mental health screenings and body cameras for police officers. Activists alos requested that the Atlanta Police Department stop training with the Israeli army. Reed said today’s meeting wasn’t about getting a deal, but rather figuring out what people are feeling.

“We’re going to respond to those recommendations and we’re going to make our responses public, so people will know where we stand on 25 issues that folks felt were really important. And we’re not going to play games. If I don’t agree, I’m going to say I don’t agree and I’m going to say why,” Reed said.

Protestors not allowed into the closed meeting with Mayor Kasim Reed chanted and sang in the lobby of Atlanta City Hall.

Credit Jayla Moody / GPB

Protesters sang and chanted in the lobby of Atlanta City Hall during the meeting. Some protesters complain they were shut out of the meeting with Reed, who was joined not only by his leadership team but also by the singer Usher.

Reed and Turner agreed to the meeting last week, after days of protests where demonstrators clogged streets and tried to block the interstate: strategies that aren’t always well-received by veterans of the Civil Rights Movement and expose a generational divide within the movement.

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